Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak says Tesla is 'The Worst' at the Only Thing That Sets It Apart

Yahoo

22-03-2025

For modern vehicles—particularly EVs—in-car software is among the most critical features for buyers. To some, what you see on screen is more important than range, ride comfort, or any number of other metrics we rate vehicles on. Tesla might have pioneered the modern everything-behind-a-screen ethos for automakers, but tech pioneer and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says Tesla is actually pretty bad at improving its software.
Wozniak was an early supporter of Tesla, once calling his Model S the 'favorite' of all the vehicles he owns. Like many, Wozniak seems to be looking at Tesla through a different lens and throwing an appropriate amount of shade at Tesla.
In an interview with CNBC, Wozniak said, "Every step up where they changed things in the car, it got worse and worse and worse, and now it is just miserable for the user interface. Coming from Apple, the user interface and the way you deal with technology are the most important things in the world to me. And Tesla is the worst in the world at that.'
'Where to find the time of day changes depending on what [driving] mode you're in,' he continued. 'The buttons that go through your six favorite channels don't work if it's satellite radio channels. It takes so many tries to hit one button in your jiggly car, and it just doesn't work.' Wozniak also doesn't care for Tesla's Full Self Driving and Autopilot driver assistance features, pointing out the serious safety concerns with both platforms.
Wozniak has salient but subjective points. It's worth noting that most platforms with software-based interfaces—like the iPhone or the Mac—have undergone nearly total upheaval and reimagining of their software and interface. Tesla hasn't really had that moment, at least not yet. Over time, Tesla seems to have made the same mistake many tech companies do: iterative change for the sake of change, not because it's an improvement. Too many layers of obfuscation for simple commands or accessing features make the in-car experience confusing and more dangerous for many drivers.
With its latest Model Y refresh, Tesla made several changes to the exterior and interior - but failed to use that opportunity to revamp its software. It would have been an excellent opportunity to introduce a new in-car interface, but Tesla didn't. And that's likely because there isn't anything new on the software front to roll out.
However, it is creating a lower-cost Model Y for the Chinese market and may have scammed the Canadian government out of millions. It almost seems that Tesla is doing everything but paying attention to its in-car software. Maybe the company fundamentally disagrees with naysayers and thinks its software is great.
Wozniak admitted he has likely run afoul of Musk, which might be why he's speaking freely about Tesla's software woes. Subjectivity aside, Wozniak has good points, and Tesla should address them. Drivers have been unhappy for years about the automaker's software interface and the inability to access necessary features that are far simpler in other vehicles from other manufacturers. Still, it seems Tesla is unlikely to change anything soon.